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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - Matthew 18:22 - 18:22
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Until seventy times seven (heōs hebdomēkontakis hepta). It is not clear whether this idiom means seventy-seven or as the Revised Version has it (490 times). If heptakis were written it would clearly be 490 times. The same ambiguity is seen in Genesis 4:24, the lxx text by omitting kai. In the Test. of the Twelve Patriarchs, Benj. vii. 4, it is used in the sense of seventy times seven. But it really makes little difference because Jesus clearly means unlimited forgiveness in either case. “The unlimited revenge of primitive man has given place to the unlimited forgiveness of Christians” (McNeile).